Wiltshire Council invests in 17 new hybrid electric vehicles to cut emissions and save money

Wiltshire Council has invested £600,000 in 17 new, mid-sized hybrid vans to reduce carbon emissions and saving around 80% on fuel costs.

The 17 LEVC VN5 vans will be used by the council's parking, pest control and highways services, and will run for up to 70 miles on a single plug-in charge. As they are hybrid vehicles, they can also be run on standard fuel, but as these teams usually make short journeys, the majority of trips will be fully charged through the council's charging infrastructure, which is currently being upgraded in its hubs and car parks.

These new vehicles fit with the council's business plan objectives to reduce carbon emissions and modernise its fleet to low carbon vehicles.

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: This is our first rollout of hybrid vehicles as part of our Fleet Strategy, and it will enable us to reduce our carbon emissions and save money over the next five years.

The vans will run for 70 miles on a single charge, and they do have the option to use petrol if required - though of course, for both environmental and cost reasons, we want to keep this to a minimum.

The vehicles will save us 80% on the fuel costs of the previous vans, and also save an estimated 140g of carbon dioxide each kilometre when using the electric charge. All of our electricity at the council comes from renewable sources, making those kilometres truly low carbon.

The hybrid vehicles are the first phase of our plan to have a complete fleet of low carbon vehicles. For the next step, the replacement of all EV chargers in Wiltshire Council car parks will begin in the autumn. We will also be leasing more fully electric cars and vans in the coming months.

These 17 vehicles will be the first of many as we seek to make the council carbon neutral by 2030.

Simon Barr of ALD Automotive, said: We've been delighted to have been able to work with Wiltshire Council in funding the first of their petrol hybrid vans as they start their transition to a cleaner fleet.

ALD Automotive's aim is to work with our Public Sector customers to operate cleaner, more cost-effective fleets and Wiltshire Council have now taken some great first steps to ensure their fleet is fully electrified by 2030. We look forward to working with them on further carbon reduction projects for their fleet.

To find out more about the council's Climate Strategy, people should go to: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/climate